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Friday, February 20, 2009
Wargaming cycles
A recent post by Jeff made me reflect about the cyclicality that is a major feature in my wargaming interests. By now, you must have realized that my interest in wargaming projects comes in bouts. I usually have five or six major periods that I juggle. In average, for a couple of months I get very excited about a project, then my enthusiasm seems to peter out. Do not get me wrong - I am still very much interested in what I am doing: only, it seems that I suffer from a short attention span, and keeping projects in a rotation help me to enjoy the hobby at its best -- and to relax along the way, which should be primary goal of any hobby. For the past couple of months I was fired up about my War of Spanish Succession armies, but I now feel the need to move my focus to something else, at least for a little while. Don't worry: WSS will be back -- apparently, my rotation seems to bring projects back at least once every six months, so I expect to be back at work on my marlburian miniatures by the summer. In the meanwhile, I have been looking around my boxes to see where the next flame may be: more WWI naval? More Napoleonic? Some progress in Lopongo? WWI Gallipoli? Right now, I am inclined to pick up again my colonial armies. I did excellent progresses a few months ago, so I should be able to field a few armies and have some fun on the battlefield within a relative short time frame. Italian, Abyssinians, and Zulus are all in advanced stage of preparations, and so are British, Pathans, and Boers. It seems a reasonable direction to concentrate my efforts over the next couple of months.
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3 comments:
I'm glad that my post started your juices going.
One of the things that I've discovered about myself in terms of wargaming is that I like to "mix it up" with a period that is very different from the one I have been concentrating on.
For example, the Colonial period is one of my favorites. It is a great change-of-pace from the Eighteenth Century because the style and fluidity of the table top action is so very different -- being more akin to skirmishing than the linear warfare of the other period.
So when looking for what to do during your Marlburian break, I suggest that you look for a period where the "flavor" of the table top action is very different.
-- Jeff
Like you, I find that spending too much time on a single project can be counter-productive; by ringing the changes every so often I keep my interest in what I am working on at a particular time at a higher level.
I tend to move from one project to another regularly. I think that si fine as one goes back when ready.
The only problem I have noticed is that one never identifies a project as finished. Sometimes it is helpful to be able to draw a line and congratulate oneself on a job well done.
One year I tried always changing what I was doing on the first of the month. That actually worked very well for me. The main thing is just to keep the painted figures coming!
John
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